In order to become licensed professional counselor a resident in counseling in the state of Virginia must complete total of 3,400 hours, 2,000 of those direct hours with clients, and 200 supervision hours.  That is only after one completes 60 semester hours of graduate school which must include 13 core content areas, one of which is “professional counseling identity, function, and ethics” and 600 or more hours of internship (Virginia Board of Counseling). Therefore it is inaccurate to equate the level of experience of “interns”, “pre-licensed counselors”, and “residents” as all one group.  Additionally, some residents in counseling have obtained National Certified Counselor certification by having “voluntarily met high national standards for the practice of counseling” (NBCC).  As ethically competent residents in counseling, we are obliged to accurately describe our status as residents and provide our supervisor’s information to any prospective clients.  Forbidding advertising to residents in counseling would narrow down the choices available to the public seeking help and place yet another significant burden on the residents to complete the required hours and gain needed experience towards the license.  Please vote “no” on this petition.  Thank you for your time and consideration.